First time jeep owner. 87 wrangler loredo. 4.2 auto I hear the differentials aren’t all that great or tuff. Why is everyone using 8.8 diffs? Can’t you strengthen the Dana’s? Curious thanks for info
Differential gearing
- Thread starter joshuapa
- Start date
Everyone? nah... the D35 is considered a weak link when running anything bigger than 33's if that big and your abusive. The 44 is great but hard to come by, the 8.8 is from a ferd exploder and plentyful. Google 'super 35 kit" and read on for hours.
As Gilaguy said….weak is a relative term. The stock rear axle is generally safe for medium duty on 33’s with no locker in the axle. People call the axle a piece of shit but in reality, it performs as designed. Jeep designed it for 27” tires and I don’t know anyone that has broken a D35 on 27’s.
The rear axle can be beefed up to run 35’s and do tough wheeling. The kit to do that is a Super 35 which replaces the shafts with shafts that are slightly stronger than Dana 44 or Ford 8.8 shafts. It upgrades the splines from 27 spline to 30 spline and uses a 10-15% stronger alloy material. To upgrade the splines an aftermarket locker has to be used. You can choose from Eaton ELocker, Detroit automatic locker, ARB, or OX.
The reason people use Ford 8.8’s is they are plentiful and relatively easy to install. By the time you build one up it isn’t cheap unless you get a 4.10 axle and keep the 4.10s in there. Personally I will never end up needing a 4.10 setup so an 8.8 really makes no sense to me. The 8.8 also has a larger diff housing so it hangs lower and has less ground clearance than a D44 or D35.
The rear axle can be beefed up to run 35’s and do tough wheeling. The kit to do that is a Super 35 which replaces the shafts with shafts that are slightly stronger than Dana 44 or Ford 8.8 shafts. It upgrades the splines from 27 spline to 30 spline and uses a 10-15% stronger alloy material. To upgrade the splines an aftermarket locker has to be used. You can choose from Eaton ELocker, Detroit automatic locker, ARB, or OX.
The reason people use Ford 8.8’s is they are plentiful and relatively easy to install. By the time you build one up it isn’t cheap unless you get a 4.10 axle and keep the 4.10s in there. Personally I will never end up needing a 4.10 setup so an 8.8 really makes no sense to me. The 8.8 also has a larger diff housing so it hangs lower and has less ground clearance than a D44 or D35.
New to site, not sure if this is the right forum.
QUESTION: 95 yj, front diff. Has a tube 1/2 " connected at the top of the diff housing that is not attached to anything. What is it for and where does it connect? When tested while engine is running there doesnt appear to be a vacuum line.
Thanks
QUESTION: 95 yj, front diff. Has a tube 1/2 " connected at the top of the diff housing that is not attached to anything. What is it for and where does it connect? When tested while engine is running there doesnt appear to be a vacuum line.
Thanks
Vent tube. Should be a hose connected to it that runs up to the top of the radiator area with a breather valve to let air out so the axle can breathe.
Thanks. For what it’s worth I could not find on any manual or YouTube any information about that particular device